This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Russian intervention in Ukraine would be ‘invasion,’ warns U.S.

Washington says any further intervention by Moscow in eastern Ukraine — even purported humanitarian aid — would be viewed as “an invasion of Ukraine.”

A polar bear eats bread in the Moscow Zoo on Friday. Russia's drastic ban on food imports from the West claims it first victims -- the zoo's finicky eaters. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

By Edith M. LedererThe Associated Press

Fri., Aug. 8, 2014

Washington warned Moscow on Friday that any further intervention in eastern Ukraine — including under the pretense of delivering humanitarian aid — would be viewed as “an invasion of Ukraine.” But the new rebel leader in Donetsk says he wants only “moral support” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power delivered the warning at a UN Security Council meeting focusing on the human rights situation eastern Ukraine, where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists. It follows recent reports by the West and the Kyiv government accusing Moscow of dispatching what NATO estimates is 20,000 troops to the frontier.

Power noted Russia has proposed creating “humanitarian corridors” to deliver aid to the separatists. “The humanitarian situation needs addressing — but not by those who have caused it,” she stressed.

She welcomed Kyiv’s creation of “humanitarian corridors” to get aid into separatist-controlled areas and allow civilians out. If Moscow wants to send aid to the separatists, she said, it should be delivered by neutral international aid organizations such as the Red Cross.

Article Continued Below

“Therefore any further unilateral intervention by Russia into Ukrainian territory, including one under the guise of providing humanitarian aid, would be completely unacceptable and deeply alarming — and it would be viewed as an invasion of Ukraine,” Power warned.

“A Russian peacekeeper in Ukraine is an oxymoron,” Power said. “At every step in this crisis, Russians have sabotaged peace, not built it, and it is particularly worrisome given Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea.”

Meanwhile, a wide-ranging ban on Western food announced this week by the Kremlin in response to sanctions from the European Union, the U.S. and Canada has forced a sudden diet change for the more than 6,000 animals in Russia’s largest zoo.

The sanctions mean sea lions will no longer crack open Norwegian shellfish. Cranes will have to make do without their Latvian herring and orangutans must find a replacement for Dutch bell peppers. Moscow Zoo is scrambling to find politically acceptable substitutes to satisfy finicky palates.

In other developments Friday, a Ukrainian has replaced a Russian at the helm of the insurgency in eastern Ukraine and declared he wants “only moral support” from Moscow, as the Kremlin apparently tries to rebut Western claims that it is calling the shots among the rebels.

Many in the rebel ranks decry what they call Russia’s betrayal of their cause, but most vow to keep on fighting even as Ukrainian government troops close in on the main rebel stronghold, the eastern city of Donetsk.

In an ominous sign that the fighting may escalate further, the new leader of the insurgency boasted of hundreds of new recruits and says a lot of rocket launchers and tanks have been seized from a Ukrainian unit.

Alexander Zakharchenko took over late Thursday as prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which has declared independence from the central government in Kyiv. He succeeded Alexander Borodai, a Moscow political consultant who reportedly played a role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March before moving into eastern Ukraine.

In another sign that the rebellion may be losing steam, several other rebel leaders with links to Russia have quietly left the region in the past few weeks.

The Russian commanders “are fleeing like rats,” said Andrei, a 27-year-old rebel in Donetsk. Like other locals who have joined the separatist cause, he gave only his first name out of fear of retribution.

“We had hoped for help from Moscow, we had expected Russian troops, but Russia betrayed us,” Andrei said. “Many fighters are beginning to think about their future and also are escaping to Russia.”

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com